Leeds footballer ‘found gun and drugs in garden’

Tony Gardner

A semi-professional footballer told a court he was too scared to go to police after he found a loaded gun and more than £7,000 of drugs hidden in a bag in his neighbour’s garden.

Delroy Ferguson, 26, described to a jury how he made the discovery after he went to investigate when he saw a man in the garden next door to his home in Louis Street, Chapeltown.

Leeds Crown Court heard Ferguson was arrested around 10 days later, on August 9 this year, when police executed a search warrant at his home.

Officers found a carrier bag containing 361g of class B drug methlenedioxypyrovalerone (MDVP) hidden in his bedroom. In another bag they found a Browning self-loading handgun which contained a bullet, along with a silencer and a magazine containing four more bullets. Ferguson is on trial where he denies possession of a class B drug with intent to supply.

He admits a lesser charge of possessing a class B drug and has already pleaded guilty to two offences of possession of a prohibited firearm and possession of ammunition.

Giving evidence, Ferguson told the court how he had played semi professional football for Guiseley, Wakefield and Garforth Town and had worked with youngsters at Chapeltown Youth Development Centre.

Ferguson described how he got dressed and went down to his neighbours garden after seeing the man leave in the early hours of the morning. He said he found a heavy bag and took it into his own home, where he lived with his mother.

Ferguson said he felt “scared and nervous” when he saw the contents of the bag. Asked by his barrister, Mark Foley, if he told his mother about what he found, Ferguson said: “No she would have had a fit and kicked me out.” He added: ”I had a conversation with my cousin about handing them in. He said ‘don’t be stupid. you are young, black, you would go to jail.”